Blue Innovation 2024

Blue Innovation exists to connect researchers, organizations, and community members who are passionate about protecting our ocean and water sources. There is an urgent need, as well as an opportunity, for scalable new technologies, solutions, and ventures to improve ocean and water sustainability.

Blue Innovation Day is scheduled to take place on Sunday, October 6, 2024. Join us from 11:00am-3:30pm for a variety of activities in and outside of the UC Santa Cruz Seymour Marine Discovery Center for a full day of inspirational exhibits from companies, artists, small businesses, non-profits, and researchers who are tackling the water and ocean challenges created by climate change. Enjoy food trucks, live bands, tours, scavenger hunts, fun hands on activities for all ages, and information on the latest technologies, research, and programs for supporting our blue planet.

Back by popular demand: a raffle hosted by O’Neill Sea Odyssey for numerous prizes including dinners at your favorite Santa Cruz restaurants, sunset sail on the O’Neill Sea Odyssey, and more.

Register to attend Blue Innovation for free, and you’ll automatically get entered into the raffle! For those who purchase our Otterly Awesome ticket, you’ll get 5 extra raffle entries. Make sure you are also following O’Neill Sea Odyssey on Instagram if you are interested in additional entries. We will announce winners on the main stage at 1:45pm. Winners must be present at 1:45pm on the day of the event to claim their prize!

All outdoor activities are free and open to the public (e.g., lightning talks, exhibits, tours, bands, food trucks, etc). Workshops require paid admission and access to the Seymour Center’s interior exhibit hall, both require a separate admission fee.

Blue Innovation is hosted by Santa Cruz Works and the Seymour Marine Discovery Center at UC Santa Cruz in collaboration with UC Santa Cruz Innovation and Business Engagement Hub, the City of Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County Office of Education, and Cabrillo College.

Blue Innovation is sponsored by the UC Santa Cruz Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, Ocean Film Festival, and the O’Neill Sea Odyssey. Interested in being a sponsor? Reach out to us.

JOIN US!

EXHIBITORS: If you are an entity focused on ocean and water solutions, you are invited to exhibit at this event. “Entities” include: organizations, researchers, artists, startups small businesses, surfboard shapers, etc. If you are unsure if you qualify, Contact Us first before signing up. Apply ASAP no later than midnight Sunday, September 1, 2024. There is limited space available.
WORKSHOPS: Speakers and topics will be announced in mid-September. Tickets for workshops will go on sale at that time.
ATTENDEES: Free. Limited parking available requires a 5 minute walk to main event area. We strongly recommend carpooling or riding your bike and parking it in our Bike Valet area. Win tickets to our raffle by registering to attend below.
VOLUNTEERS: To volunteer at this event, please reach email Sarah Groff sgroff@ucsc.edu with the subject line: Blue Innovation 2024 Volunteer.
SPONSORS: A sponsor tier for every business and organization. Show your support for protecting our oceans, and support entrepreneurs.
SEYMOUR MUSEUM ACESS: Blue Innovation exhibits are outside the museum. If you would like to go into the facilities, click HERE.

Blue Innovation Event Schedule

All Day Activities
- Outdoor Scavenger Hunt: Look for and learn from landmarks around the Coastal Science Campus! Use one of the guides to get started.
- Geocache: Geocaching is a type of search where people look for cashes, or hidden stashes of objects. Learn about larval fish by exploring geocaches around the Coastal Science Campus.
- Live Music: Main Stage with Cruz Control and others TBA
- Food trucks: a wide range of yummies from pastries and coffee to sandwiches, burritos, and more.
- Behind-the-Scenes Research Tour - Seymour Marine Center will offer tours to the Long Marine Lab, where you can learn about marine mammal research that happens at UCSC. Ask the front desk to sign up - space is limited. Pay to attend.
9:30am
- Exhibitor setup
11:00am
- OPEN: Blue Innovation exhibits, live music, and food trucks open
- Networking Pavilion: hosted by UC Santa Cruz - open all day for meetings
11:30am
- Lightning Talks: 2 minute presentations by key researchers and exhibitors on the Main Stage
- Seymour tours and scavenger hunts (every 30 minutes)
12:15pm Workshop 1
- Coastal Erosion: The coastline has been eroding for thousands of years and this will continue well into the foreseeable future, driven by a gradually rising sea level, but more importantly in the short term, extreme events such as we experienced during the past two winters. Very large waves arriving simultaneously with extreme high tides are the conditions when most coastal storm damage and erosion have occurred historically. Our options for responding to these events are limited, but we need to look forward and make decisions on how we will adapt to a different future. Gary Griggs / Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UC Santa Cruz
1:00pm
- Workshop 2
  - Managing Ocean Risk in Aquaculture: Jonathan LaRiviere, Ph.D. is the CEO of ScootScience. Learn how Scoot monitors over 900 fish farms around the world with censors that enable owners and investors to know in realtime everything from the fish living or dead, water quality, and much more.
1:45pm
- O’Neill Sea Odyssey drawing winners announced on main stage!
2:00pm Workshop 3
- Sustainability: The City of Santa Cruz’ 4.5 mile coast has taken a beating the past two storm seasons. While the City has undertaken significant coastal climate adaptation efforts in recent years to address episodic storm events and slower impacts from sea level rise, coastal storm damage in the winter of 2023 created a new community imperative to address coastal change. Sustainability and Resiliency Officer, Dr. Tiffany Wise will share the City's approach to building coastal resilience proactively and collaboratively.
3:30pm
- CLOSE: Event Ends and gates close